Alice in Wonderland
SEEING MYSELF, SEEING OTHERS: The Art of the Portrait
Exhibition dates: September 13th - October 8th, 2011
My Grateful thanks to the juror Andy Bloxham and Kirsten and Rick at Photo Place Gallery!
From the earliest days of photography, portraiture fascinated practitioners of the darkroom arts. While many commercial photographers earned their living recording appearances, some turned their lenses on themselves and others with surprising results. Today portraiture--of self and or of others--yields some of the most probing images in contemporary photography. Photographers explore humor, discomfort, intimacy, and the uncanny to photograph faces, and sometimes even souls.
PhotoPlace Gallery is pleased to welcome Andy Bloxham as juror of "Seeing Myself, Seeing Others: The Art of the Portrait." For this exhibition Andy selected forty portraits for exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery. He also chose an additional thirty-five portraits for the gallery’s "On-Line Annex." All selected work will be included in a full-color exhibition catalogue available for purchase.
Juror's Statement:
Being asked to juror this exhibition was an honor, while the actual process of doing so was quite difficult. The idea of a portrait can take on many interpretations, as the hundreds of submitted images submitted proved. Narrowing it down to the finalists was no easy task. Photographers submitted many, many great images that required repeated rounds of views to get down to the chosen work you see now.
What makes a great portrait? Is it the expression on the face or the presence of the form? There is no one specific formula. The headless body in Heidi Lender’s image strikes a contrast to the frozen gaze in Frank Hamrick’s work. These different images show it is not just the aesthetic or look that captivates, but the emotions a portrait conveys. Even the emotion isn’t to a standard. Content can be serious, such as the work from Mariana Bartolomeo and Megan Otto, or humorous, from Ashley Matthews and Tom Johnson. Each artist approached a topic from his or her own unique perspective. An oncoming light’s effect takes on two different mindsets with Sergei Isaenko and Bryan Bankston’s photographs. Sometimes the idea of a portrait doesn’t even involve a literal human, as is the case with Laura McCormick’s work.
I could go on and on about each of the selected artists and why each image works so well, but there is a common thread behind all selected work. For reasons specific to each image, the chosen photographs are the ones that caused me to pause and investigate further. As I looked through the submissions, the work you see now made me forget all other images for just a moment. They struck emotional connections that invested me in their messages. Congratulations to the photographers, and best of luck in your future work.
Andy Bloxham
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-2. By appointment only on Sundays and Mondays.
SEEING MYSELF, SEEING OTHERS: The Art of the Portrait
Exhibition dates: September 13th - October 8th, 2011
My Grateful thanks to the juror Andy Bloxham and Kirsten and Rick at Photo Place Gallery!
From the earliest days of photography, portraiture fascinated practitioners of the darkroom arts. While many commercial photographers earned their living recording appearances, some turned their lenses on themselves and others with surprising results. Today portraiture--of self and or of others--yields some of the most probing images in contemporary photography. Photographers explore humor, discomfort, intimacy, and the uncanny to photograph faces, and sometimes even souls.
PhotoPlace Gallery is pleased to welcome Andy Bloxham as juror of "Seeing Myself, Seeing Others: The Art of the Portrait." For this exhibition Andy selected forty portraits for exhibition at PhotoPlace Gallery. He also chose an additional thirty-five portraits for the gallery’s "On-Line Annex." All selected work will be included in a full-color exhibition catalogue available for purchase.
Juror's Statement:
Being asked to juror this exhibition was an honor, while the actual process of doing so was quite difficult. The idea of a portrait can take on many interpretations, as the hundreds of submitted images submitted proved. Narrowing it down to the finalists was no easy task. Photographers submitted many, many great images that required repeated rounds of views to get down to the chosen work you see now.
What makes a great portrait? Is it the expression on the face or the presence of the form? There is no one specific formula. The headless body in Heidi Lender’s image strikes a contrast to the frozen gaze in Frank Hamrick’s work. These different images show it is not just the aesthetic or look that captivates, but the emotions a portrait conveys. Even the emotion isn’t to a standard. Content can be serious, such as the work from Mariana Bartolomeo and Megan Otto, or humorous, from Ashley Matthews and Tom Johnson. Each artist approached a topic from his or her own unique perspective. An oncoming light’s effect takes on two different mindsets with Sergei Isaenko and Bryan Bankston’s photographs. Sometimes the idea of a portrait doesn’t even involve a literal human, as is the case with Laura McCormick’s work.
I could go on and on about each of the selected artists and why each image works so well, but there is a common thread behind all selected work. For reasons specific to each image, the chosen photographs are the ones that caused me to pause and investigate further. As I looked through the submissions, the work you see now made me forget all other images for just a moment. They struck emotional connections that invested me in their messages. Congratulations to the photographers, and best of luck in your future work.
Andy Bloxham
Gallery hours: Tuesdays through Fridays 11-4; Saturdays: 10-2. By appointment only on Sundays and Mondays.
© Hugh Jones Photography
Alice In Wonderland
